Monday, July 6, 2009

Monday 14 miles.

am) 9 miles in Louisville. First 2 miles in 16:00, then pegged my HR at 140-145 for 7 miles in 44:06. 6:18 pace... flat terrain is a beautiful thing.

pm) 5 miles. No watch. No HR. Just ran. Included 4 X 20 step strides. Tomorrow I am meeting some guys in Boulder for my first structured hard session in this Chicago build up. I had planned on not allowing myself to run more than 5% faster than goal pace. But since I don't know what goal pace is, I have some leeway. My goal at Chicago is not sub 2:20. The first goal is to break my 2:30 curse. I've run 2:30-2:32 in 3 of my 5 marathons and it's starting to piss me off. So, if I go with a goal of 5:40 (2:28 marathon pace), tomorrow I should run no faster than 5:23 pace. I may start with that and see where I feel. As the race gets closer and Iget a feel for where my specific marathon fitness is, I will be able to see my goal pace a little more clearly. 14 weeks is a bit far out to judge things. One thing that will be more of a benefit to me than the workout, will be the group run setting and pushing myself against others which is a huge weakness of mine.

Exactly Matt. If you and I are racing and we have been even the whole race and heading in to the last mile your HR is at 150 and my HR is at 170... and we both red-line at ~180, then you are still 30 beats below max while I am close to red-line. In a race scenario the guy who has the best kick or is stronger at the end is the one running the easiest in the beginning. In the marathon (and technically any race longer than a 200m)aerobic fitness is what allows you to run strong yet fast for the first 18 miles and then still be able to run strong to the finish. An aerobically weak runner will burn through all their fuel and be done by mile 18 (the wall).

And to put it another way- my last aerobic test had me running 5:45 pace at HR 150. My lactate threshold is HR 175. So when I'm running at 5:45 pace, I still have 25 heart beats to work with before going anaerobic.

It didn't seem to be a move by Lance, but a non-move by the peloton. Once the top 20 moved to echelon the guys who weren't paying attention simply fell off. I wonder if Bruyneel was secretly pleased with the outcome? He has to still be loyal to Lance. I liked too seeing Hincapie pulling with Lance on his wheel! Like old times...

Well... if I run too hard (and it's not about what I think I can do, but about what I should do) it would leave me too fatigued to run 100 mile weeks... which is more than you bike. And if I don't run 100 mile weeks then I can't run under 2:20 someday... which is an hour faster than you run a marathon. Zing! I'm a dork :)

ouch - i'm wiping away tears as i type, lol....anyways, what i meant was that you should maybe just suck it up when you run with that group and run WITH them or whats the point?? you can run "your pace" any day. get out of your comfort zone and remind yourself how it feels to run fast and hurt. and then go and finish your 100 mile weeks. and while you're at it, quit being such a p*ssy. if you don't learn to hurt, you also won't go under 2:20(your aerobic fitness or ability to run 100 mile weeks has never been in doubt...) but, what do i know....

pizza night would be good except i am now morbidly obese after taking yet more time off and holidaying a little too much.

I see your point, but jumping straight in to balls out intervals isn't smart for me. I ran within myself on Tuesday 20" back. Next week I'll run within myself and maybe be just 10" back. Then I'll run with the group, still within myself while they kill themselves. I'm not too interested in training for a 10k then racing Chicago. Different ways to reach the same point. Besides. If I had killed myself on Tuesday I wouldn't have ran as well on Wednesday. I got two solid sessions and feel good. Good points though. I think eventually I will be there.You are spot on though with "your aerobic fitness or ability to run 100 mile weeks has never been in doubt" which is why I'm going to the group runs to begin with! I just don't want to mess myself up this far out from Chicago and want to be patient. Obese... LOL. Now your just kind of skinny.